To Ti ot wa ti can. (Teotihuacan) then SMdA

I have never pronounced the Aztec kingdom ruins correctly. I have asked many a Mexican for directions, to which the response is always ¡Donde? - Where?
Then I expand with words.. Aztec... Piramides... Zona Arquelogica. I got there, on a local bus, which I took from the same Mexico North bus station that by this time I was familiar with. The bus stations have luggage storage, which varies in price. I was thrilled to learn that in Mex City it was $1.50 NZ for my bag for 24 hours. Count those pennies girl!
Teotihuacan is great - there is not much art to it (anymore) but there are two large pyramids that, unlike in Chichen Itza, you can still climb. It was beautiful, it is more desert-country up there, just north of Mexico city. On the way I saw people camped out in a park in the middle of the highway... and lining up for food. I am curious because they did not seem homeless, in the sense that the tents and clothing were not of a homeless level. Is possible though of course.. people here manage to keep their clothes freakishly clean for a very dusty country.
The strangest thing I saw there was an obese man who was climbing the highest, Piramide of the Moon, in a suit. The climate was not intensely hot, but the sun definately was. 248 steps, 48 meters up.. you do not attempt this wearing a suit.. if your fitness level is not up to scratch, you take water and pace yourself. He had made it half way up and was lying, face-down in the dust. Why he was wearing a suit to start up with is beyond me, why he made such a dramatic gesture is too..1st step I thought would have been to remove the jacket. Anyways, I was coming down the hill, still a fair bit away (do not know how long he was there for), when someone asked if he was okay .. he was all ¨Agua...¨ pointing at strangers, who were forced into giving there water. I was going to offer the little I had originally..but when he didn{t use manners and didn´t remove his jacket all I could think was that this drama queen needs to learn to fend for herself.
Another interesting thing I saw in the park that was un-Mexican-history related was Africans in the form of Somalian Mayors. All the African people I have seen here have stood out like me, apart from the obvious, because they are tall. I was looking up at some of the name tags on their chests to even detirmine who they where. I am not sure why they had conference neck bands... what could possibly be the reason for mayors of African towns to end up in Teot. in Mexico? No se. In thinking about it though, there has been a lot of random conferences on while I have been here.... None of which I can remember the names or themes... all too random. Remember thinking, ´how on earth did these people sign up for this?´.
Teot. Right, loved it .. thought it was fab. Do not know jack about Aztec´s really, but my patience is thin at this point, week 17, in Mexico. So post-reading while I sing Feliz Navidad and eat Old El Paso, thinking how un-mexican it really is, but how that company suceeded in creating new foods with actual Comida Mexicana names....tricking the world...
From here I bused back to Mexi Norte, then on to San Miguel de Allende which was leaving conveniently soon. I think they played the movie Óld Dogs´where there was a double-homicide of the careers of John Travolta and Robin Williams (two of my childhood faves for obvious roles.. Danny Zucko and Mrs Doubtfire).. for the third time on one of the buses I had been on. Disappointing. I guess I must have slept or read?
In Puebla I could not read one night so read a book ´(from the book exchange= about a reality tv show of girls in Hollywood. I was all .. this sounds familiar - like the real reality show The Hills - well, turns out it was written by the star of that very show. I read it knowing it was pretty trash.. did not take concentration. Unfortunately, it also did not put me to sleep. This was not the reason, a mixture of my life events playing in my head and a sadness for my last Mexicanas dias was making me all ´What next in life´?
I arrived in San Miguel de Allende at about 12am.. turns out what I guess was about a 2 and a half hour ride was actually 5. 12am, you may be thinking, what an awkward time to show up at a hostel. Yes, it was. Turns out that it is less of a hostel, more of a guy´s house. Not only did my taxi driver wake him up by searching and succeeding with the bell, but there were many a time where I to walk through to my room, disturbed his salsa lessons...
´Maria, what are you doing there?´
´Oh heeey, just hiding.. waiting til you are finished...did not want to disturb you..´ ´´Well you already have´
´sorry!?!´. AWKWARD.

 Lets talk about manners in hostels. My roommate in SMdA needs to learn a thing or to. I go to bed, knackered from the hours spent in Puebla reading trash and thinking trash for many-an-hour, which was in a very cold room. Because of the temperature (and the church next door having a very loud and continuous party).. and went to sleep. Woke up freezing in the middle of the night... my roommate opened all the windows (and door).. Fine for her, I spat, she has lots of blankets (I had the one I was delegated). I then had another awkward Salsa class interruption..´But there are 5 extra blankets in the room´he said, ´She is using them all´ I explained, tired and bitter. So no matter that the other person will freeze, I want air and I am cozy in my snuggly blankies. American.
SMdA was beaut though. Before I came here Mum´s friend called with news of a Doco on expats in SM (aka Extranjeros) on Maori channel. I have confidence in places where expats end up... it must be good if they left their lives in a 1st world country (and for most, ´the best country in the world´their words, not mine) to a third (?) world country. It was beaut. I arrived on the 20th (Revolution 100th Anniversary by the way) which meant a parade. Fiesta! Which meant kids dancing and dressed like the fighters and heroes of this time. Which meant a ball full of cuteness and impressive fun, which each primaria escuela trying to outdo the last. And that they kept doing. Watched a brill 1 1/2 hour parade sitting on the street between tweens and woman, baby and grandma... one school had paintings made up of pieces that the students where holding. They had 8 seconds to out in together, 8 seconds to take it apart, 8 seconds to run to a new location and flip the cards for a new pic... and so on. They counted aloud.. I do not know how long they rehearsed for this, but I assure you it was more impressive than I make out.
5 year old Kids dressed as fancy 1910 outfits (boys with moustaches, girls with frilly umbrellas) will remain one of the cutest things I will ever see. I think I have harped on about how Mexican kids are the cutest in the world. I love the community spirit, where everyone in the town is either involved or watching.Teachers and parents were walking along the side of theparade with water and cups... oranges too. It was a long parade for those kids, in the boiling sun.
The iceblock man also comes along ringing his bell. He was stopped by me for about 20 minutes because everyone was running up to him. Every single person bought one, so at 30c this tightass did too. It was a Mango Yoghurt one and it was delicious. I think I have mentioned that Mexicans snack a lot. Mexican food is healthy, fresh with veges.. BUT then they snack on the sugaryish stuff.. Coca Cola, but also donuts and chips and these yogurt blocks. All the OXXO dairy's have these 'BIMBO' bread products (funny name, but they are one of the widest distributed food companies in the world... I think behind Kraft and Nestle and Unilever. And I thgink I have bust this out before... I like facts. Anyways, Bimbo products range from packaged Bread with a layer of sugar ontop to cream-filled cakes with jam and icing. There was a sign in Mexico city sayingthat 5 people die of diabetes in Mexico everyhour.. shocker. I think this info is regurgetated too.. I always repeat myself.
Back to San Miguel, the inner city is BEAUT and colourful and in close quarters... it is obvious that in central town all these beautiful homes and B&Bs are owned by expats. After the parade I had $20 pesos aka $2ish, so the mission of finding an ATM became main priority. I got sent to different places by different people, then got a map and booklet from the Info place and left it in the internet cafe whilst writing on this very blog.. so backtracked to the centre for a new set, after failing to find the right bus stop out to where my bank was, with a huge MEGA supermarket (that is the brand.. expat supers here..the logo is a pelican) and huge Roast chicken takeout and fastfood and playground extravaganza. That is a very popular meal choice here in Mexico.. I didn't realise in PV but travelling around it becomes obvious.. these restaurants with 'Pollo Rosado' are huge. One easy way to feed the fam, they have large ovens out the front of the shop with lots of chickens with huge skewers through them on rotate. You can also get tortillas and salad with.. they are good at fastfood here. DI A BE TES
The next day I awoke early for walking the streets before jumping over to Guanajuato, the town with the namesake of the state. No one was about yet, as shops and people don't start moving till 10, but there was an excentric older American man.. a painter. Musical reference: Chicago. Anyways, I once again had a 'conversation' with an American where they toldme their life story and I was just standing there with what was originally genuine interest, morphing into pure frustration at the fact they don't even give me the time to open my mouth.. anyways, at 68 it was a long history, then he took me to this bridge with a lookout point where he pointed out everything that has been new in the 10 years he has been there for. He doesn't like living there. Once again it was a 'why?' from me, although I don't know if I managed to actually get that word in or whether he just wasn't listening, but I didn;t get an answer right away. He is returning to St Louis in 2 years to study art in Uni again (which he has done in SL, Texas, NYC and Chicago, to show you how longwinded this all was).. I have found the hard thing with asking an older american where they are from, is that none of the ones in Mexico have lived in one place. The are the restless ones who jumped around 10 different cities until they gave up on the US and jumped ship. I wonder how the Mexicans feel at how easily these yanks get in, wander across the boarder, when getting the other way is deadly.
When he told me he was going to St Louis, I sang the line of the song, Meet me in StLouis - Dorothy style - then he sang it in it's full, twice (turns out it is a full length song), as I stood there awkwardly forced grinning and nodding in time.
Anyways, he asked me if he could do a picture of me, I was all 'Why me?' and he said he only asks foreigners (?) and hasn't seen any in a while. I figured this would be a facial portrait with me pulling a dramatic expression - so was in. It was then revealed, as we walked to his studio he revealed he did nude bodies. Anyone who knows me knows that this, after childbirth, is my 2nd worst nightmare. A wave of boiling hot rushed over me and panic rose, I literally lied and said my bus was actually in an hour and RAN in the other direction. Dios Mio!
'I didn't do it, but if I'd done it - how can you tell me that I was wrong? ' (Ref# 2) ... you could defs tell me I was wrong, but I was all 'I didn't do it' which linked nicely as the Chicago song reappeared in my head...
Once again I jumped on a local bus with my stuff, completely unsure where my stop was (I knew where the station was, but the man at my 'hostel' aka the guy who's life I was disrupting said I have to get off after 3 stops and walk. This, of course, was false information. A nice man was helping me though. Mexicans always are on the bus looking depressed, but leap to life when it looks someone needs help...(it is just important that your helpful mexican has the facts and is not just a guesser)... the other day in PV an American yelled on the bus asking where the supermarket (by American brand name ..Soriana) was and he replied 'just across the road.. you can walk'... whereas it is actually up the highway, about a 10 minute drive. I have walked this, never seen anyone else walk it though.
The cool thing while I was in SM was that the church next door was partying through the night and day of the 20-21st. Not cool in the night, with the Mariachi band going nuts with lots of drummers, but in the morning and day was quite exciting. Me and the American lady in my room awoke at about 5.30 am to what sounded like gunfire. It was so loud and aggressive, that I (half asleep) just dove onto the floor thinking 'this is it.. I have finally experienced Mexican danger and now no one I know will ever visit...'. I have dramatic reactions to things.. in one of the many mid-night fire alarms in my hostel at Uni; I jumped out of bed, ran down the hall shouting 'fire alarm'to make sure everyone was awake, knocked on a few neighbours doors, then ran out in a not-good-practise way. I was the fool as my feet and body froze in the winter weather in my Mickey Mouse PJS, when everyone else got out calmly, taking robes, jackets, blankets and slippers with them.
I would still like to think in a real fire, one must high-tail it out.
Anyways, they were fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. Tried to go back to sleep, but they let them off like gun work every 15 minutes. Later in the afternoon, after my escape from nudist painter, they had indigenous drums and whistles out and about 20 people in elabourate colourful and feathered costumes where dancing their socks off. It was great - the Mariachi band (the same guys too,..in orange jackets) were still playing so it was hard on the ears, but beaut to watch. I wonder where the Indigenous and religious worlds colided and what it was that they were celebrating.
Regardless, it was colourful, cultural and beautiful.

Part Dos - MEETING SWISS BALLS

PART DOS:

Wish I could have taken photos, there was a range of art tributes to the heroes of Mexico, but all my faves included battle scenes or meeting scenes

with very delicately made and painted figurines. What an art - literally here kids!

I homed it via Metro, the 3rd time at night (I trust people too much), but all was well. Took my usual route back to the hostel through the gay bondage market.

I was on the computer checking my emails, resting my feet, reading about NZ news, Wills and Kate´s engagement (why are we all so fascinated?) and

talking with a porn star.

WHAT??

Oh yes, let me elabourate, but in an abridged form (that still counts right?)

I was talking to the guy at the desk, Christian, who has been the source of some of my misinformation. I don´t know where it came from but here it goes:

¨I hate people in LA... ¨¨¨

Do you live there?

Yeah, but I hate it - girls roll up your sleeve to see if you are wearing an expensive watch before they talk to you¨

So why do you live there?

That´s where you have to be if you´re an actor

Ohh.. you´re an actor?

Well, kinda. I am actually the best porn star in the world at the moment¨

WHHATTT

(laughs)

It´s true, Google me.

(laughs, while googling)

How did you get into that?

Oh ya know, just like how you get into any another job¨ (ahh, not really!) I studied Psych and Sociology at college, knew some people---¨

It´s true, Google me.

What makes you the best in the world?

I won 2010 AVN best actor... that is an Porn Oscar.

Ohhh, so just like an Oscar?!

After that I got into mainstream too.. It opened up acting opportunities... I have been in Iron Man 2, CSI Miami, CSI New York ( you can imagine the way he is listing these right?)

I have been in an acting class with Will Smith, J-Lo (and a few other actors I don´t remember now, but recognised at the time). He listed this all very quickly and matter of factly. Just from watching them, I knew how to act. I knew what it takes...

(various questions and skepticism came from this, as a lifelong Fresh Prince fan, I am aware that he is one of the highest paying actors, so I had all these questions as he said it was really cheap as there are so many acting classes and for starts - how is he at the same level ??

Turns out his teacher let him sit in in the class with them, he watched.

At this stage my focus was more on getting info on the royal wedding, so he bust out his comp and pulled up a screen with a few people in the forground and a few thousand solediers in the background (at least, that is what I thought they were.. it was hard to tell)

There I am in Iron Man 2! (pointing at one of the soldiers).. to give him credit.. i suspect most of the others where computer generated.

(laughs again)

Oh well, good on you!

I will try and find the other scene I am in.....I have had some speaking roles too..

(he also told me about winning his award, his reaction, his trip around the world, how his facebook fan page got cancelled. what makes him good at his job and various other topics....I told him I was from NZ.)

Real name: Paul ___

Porn Star Name: Eric Swiss. (I thought it was meant to be your pet and your 1st street....?)

Starred in; Not Married with Children xxx 1 and 2, Not Charlies Angels xxx, Not the Cosbys xxx

Known for: Being the best porn star in the world, 2010

An interesting day... starring Casa de Frida

Hola.

I saw this painting, vida la vida, in the flesh.

I liked it. I liked the whole house actually, where Mexico¨s Art Power couple - Frida and Diego Riveria - lived.

I thought it was weird how they didn{t imitate it in the film.. I thought I knew exactly what it was going to look like.

I finally thought I was going to see some Famous Frida Kahlos... all over Mexico I had heard they are all in Mexico city.

Update: Don{t know where they all are, but of the 30-odd I would recognise, only saw 2 in the house I had seen before. No paintings of her with monkeys.

I had liked her art, but it was after the film that I kinda became obsessed with her. The pain she had physically, after a bus crash, for all her life - and then her miscarriage really is what drove her. I saw the casts she had to wear and the bed with the mirror that she used to paint herself (note - she did a lot of self-potraits, because she spent a lot of time bed-ridden).

I feel like I am in some kind of Frida-fan cult now.

I read online - and got told by a staff member at Museo FK - that Dos Fridas, one of her most famous paintings was in the Museo of Modern art. Well, I was so pumped for this one I brought a badge with it on to wear there.

Got there, expo over.

The annoying thing about this city is that time goes really fast. The big museums take like 3 hours and to get from one place to the other on the metro envolves a lot of time travelling, walking to change lines and waiting. I feel like I accomplish little here each day, e.g Frida Museo was the first thing I did in the day, didn{t leave til 2pm. So there is this place with pretty boats that float around, Xochilmico. I don}t know if this is actually the name, I am writng it off the top of my head and can not be arsed searching it.

Anyways, you go down the river on a pretily decorated red and yellow boat. I was told on Sunday night that to do it cheaply you must go on the weekend.. if only I had that info earlier. Finally got there, it was a huge mission on a few different trains, then followed the signs as many enthused men on bikes pointed the way (they sit on their bikes at the station, then one of them jumps into gear at the sight of a tourist)... I was told it would be $200 pesos, bit over $20 per boat. Unfortunately, coz It is low season, they must be desperate.

I jumped in with 2 Argentinian girls, we started away. They asked the price, when I asked what they said... they told me $370 pesos each! OH. HELL. NAH. That is over $40 Nz.... over $100 for the boat - to quote la favorita oracion de mi madre ¨Give me a break¨.
My heart was pounding, we were pulling away, I was trapped.
So, being the cheap and dramatic person that I am, I jumped up, dove onto the neighbouring boat to escape. So, due to the very slow speed of the boat (since the trip is 45 mins, I doubt it will get much beyond leaving the parking area and then reversing back in), it was really just a little step-jump, but I was shaking my head vigourously going ¨Yo escuchi $200 por todo (I heard 200 for all) No quiero, No quiero! (I don´t want)¨ STOP THE BOAT is what I was saying in my head.
They were all ¨Impossible¨ for both the stopping and the price, I didn´t feel bad about drag-queenly high tailing it out of there when scam artists were involved. So, with my money in my hand and photos on my card, I flounced out of there.

I headed for the centre (the sun set on the train mission home) where I stumbled across a night exhibition of art especially for the Revo and Bicen (Just some Mex 2010 slang..)

(NOTE: THIS IS ONLY HALF THIS ENTRY... I REWROTE IT TWICE AND IT KEPT NOT SAVING. I THEN WROTE IT IN AN EMAIL TO MYSELF (I am my number one sender of emails to my inbox... followed by Mum, then the Lady from school wanting me blimmin timesheets, then Oxfam) BUT NOW IT WILL NOT LET ME USE COPY AND PASTE.

Ah, if only Mexican Electricity had not killed my computer then I would be able to use that (there is free wireless EVERYWHERE in mexico), instead of paying once a day. Could have sponsered a Child with this money!

10 days left! 10 dias mas....

Hola,

So my day in Ciudad de Mexico did not go as planned. I know what you are thinking ''You're in Mexico... lighten up!'', but I have been light for many a days now and I am done. With 16 weeks with everyone else on Mexican time, I am wanting structure.

It is all because it is the 100th Anniversary of the Revolution on Saturday... here, like Aus, when a Public holiday lands on the weekend they give you another day *the flaw in this system is that I kept working on public holidays e.g. Christmas and Boxing Day, and then people who didn't were getting the larger paychecks for the next monday} anyways, here they celebrate it beforehand.
Which meant in the park I was among thousands of people, which wasn't that bad coz I went at 10am... Mexicans generally do not get moving till about midday, but then my 2 museums I planned to see were both closed. I did not see this one coming! Mainly because Public holidays are when all the tourists are in town, and places just advertise as being closed on Xmas. You may be thinking "It's a public holiday, the museums need to give their staff time off too!'', to that I tell you that all the staff still work. Everyone is in there cleaning and so the guards are all outside guarding the cleaners. This is why I was confused that it was closed ..it looked so open.

Other people from my hostel were there *one texan from US withfluent Spanish and 2 Belgin girls who had just come the night before... don't know how they didn't have jetlag... they are 7 hours diff, like NZ (bar daylight savs) but the other way or something. We went to the zoo in the park, with free entry, that had an incredible selection of animals, although mainly I wanted to see could hardly be seen &(gorilla, panda, cheetah).. most of the animals were sleeping at midday. Many of them had sad conditions, the panda that wasn't on display was in a medium sized plain room with no light...he was sitting at the door trying to open it.
There was also a strong chlorine smell in the park, so I suspect that the water wells of the animals are very strong with it.. their poor skin!

Anyways, after that I headed into town... i didn{t really accomplish much... I think I have many a hour unaccounted for actually, I don{t know where the time went! I know I checked out a few other museos... all closed. I walked around, wasting time until the Light show.. WHICH I WAS TOLD STARTED AT 7pm.... so I was there at 6.15. My back is still store from standing in the same position. My feet a bruised with a cracked heal... you would have thought I had been doing serious farm work. No, just standing. I talked to a Belgiun for a while, he was bored by Mexico City and bolting after 2 days.. I didn´t understand - I think this city is Fantastic! Everyone has different experiences though... we went to the zoo because this guy who had never left his small town in Oregan before this made it sound like the best experience of his life. For a Belguin (spelling?) living in London, having travelled all of South American and Europe, can not find anything exciting. Poff I say! He did make some funny comments like ´´there are a lot of gay people here.. I have nothing against them... I have just never seen one before´´...(he is staying in the same area I am , the Gay district...Zona Rosa..I realised this as I got off the metro with all the boyfriends... it has been confirmed with the clubs and flags etc..LOVE IT) then he told me that he has decided to go to Puerto Vallarta.. staying in Romantic Zone, aka Gay zone, but he doesn{t know that.

These damn staff here! Anyways, So moral of the story is it started at 9pm... so for almost three hours I stood there FREEZING.. didn{t even claim a particularly good spot...
ALTHOUGH, the show was SOOO AMAZING. They really went all out coz of 1810 and 1910 being the most important days in Mex History.
There were dancers, there was video, there was music, there was LIGHT ... lots and lots of light. It was in the town square with lights on the huge old buildings and cathedral. SO COOL.
I took lots of phots of course, so although most of them didn{t come out... you still get the point. I will add them once I am back home.....in 10 days (give or take 2 days-7 for jet lag)...

It was very theatrical.. reminded me of WOW actually, there were THOUSANDS there. On the way home (it was 1 hour and a half) they closed off all the centro metro stations so TRILLIONS of us walked about 10 mins to the one that was opening at 11pm. I felt like I was part of some big event.. a sea of people. After they opened the Metro doors (luckily I had a spare metro ticket, or else I literally would have been walking home, with less than 2 bucks on me), it was a CRAZY display of urgency to get through.. the nice get left behind though. I learnt that early on. People push through, forcing room. They don´t mind about how uncomfortable other people may be. It is like selfishness takes hold, this is why people have been trampled to death. When the lines going through the machines paused for even a second everyone started whistling. Like everyone.. it was ringing in my ears. I felt a definate sense of accomplishment when I passed through those gates.

So another time, I made it home through the metro at night... alive. I was expecting to be scared of this place but I am probably too casual. A man told me on the metro to remove any wallet from my pocket.. not that I had one. I didn{t think I would be able to exit the hostel at all, but all is well. At my school they originally turned me off coming to Mexico, as one girl who goes there tells them horror stories and so eveyone is scared. Remember, there are twice as many people here as there are in NZ.

Yes, I thought that number was incorrect. One staff member told me the show was 7, another said there were 17 MILLION more people in this CITY! I am no longer listening to them.

Belize backtrack

Behind again... partially due to lack of computer availability and partially due to laziness.

Took an expensive bus last night, which is the quickest option from Guadalajara - but meant it

left at 12.30am and arrived at 5.30am. I am very tired.

I got offered Cocaine this morning, but more on that later. Later: So I starting walking from the Bus station, without info about where the highway was. It was dark and confusing, being 5am, so I wandered. And wandered. I eventually was in this village... a man there was all nice and took pity and offered me a drive as he was going into town for 'work'. He then was asking if I want, what seemed to be, his hand. On that hand was powder. I was confused at first, coz I couldn't see anything and he started rambling 'Oh, I have been drinking and smokin" and I'm all 'Wahhh?' and offered to drive. He got out to use the bathroom, leaving me there to panic. He came back in and was all 'I am not a bad person', and 'I will tell you a secret..I am a dealer'. I was all, 'That's not good'... and he rambled more about how it is bad, but hard to get work, cocaine is easy, supports the fam... 

He was a nice guy, but how much he changed from the guy lifting my bags into his car to the drunk?high? rambler, I was not trusting of his sober-state. As soon as we got on the highway (him still rambling), I was all 'My bus stop is the next one!', asked if he wanted a tip, but saying he probs shouldn't drive people around. I was grateful, but torn. 

BACKTRACK TO BELIZE:

The next day in Belize we really did nothing but wander the island and swim.

THE NEXT DAY HOWEVER, we took a tour with the lady who gave me all this stuff to use on my nail (after she saw me hobbling down the road wincing.. what a nice lady), the Barrier reef is very close to the island actually, so we did not have to spend an hour and a half on the boat like in Aus, it also cost around $30 NZ, not $120 Aus, that is another bonus. It also did not kill Steve Irwin.

In conclusion, I liked the 2nd largest reef in the world better than the titleholder.

I love snorkelling, muchly, but find that it is pretty much the same everywhere you go... lots of the same fish and coral. But I still loved it, I just don{t know how to differentiate between different countries.. BUT the 2nd stop, was CRAZZZZY.

The driver man, assited by his 9 year old son - Kevin - who is the next generation of tour leaders, ripped up fish and put them in a tube. Seconds later, about 15 stingrays and 6 Nurse sharks were all around the boat. He jumped in and was petting them, touching them everywhere to show they are friendly... we got in one by one, Roisin was swearing her head off in her thick accent. This American (from the South) lady did not stop screaming and was going {BABBBBYYYY) to her husband everytime one was coming near. It was her first time snorkelling - she was thrown in the deep end alright.

It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. I was trying to watch from a distance, but at one stage about 5 stingrays came up around my feet and I jumped up, in a ball on my back, furiously wading in the water. I had my eyes closed and geniuinely freaked out - blood chilling it was. Knowing that they do have powerful stings and will attack if touched on.

The nurse sharks are quite funny looking, all there features are round and they have light brown skin(?).. their fangs actually look quite comical. I was patting them a bit, this Spanish guy was clowning around... trying to be all tricky with his feet and such - not worth the risk I reckons.

Later that day I caught the ferry back to Belize city, alone. Boy, was I sad to leave my Irish Parents.. I was really casual with them but then when I was in the ferry I found myself quite upset!

I was out of money so needed the ATM, where I walked to once back in bay... I was a bit more scared than I was the morning I took this walk, as the sun had just set and it was getting dark. Men are everywhere.. just sitting or standing around... how people in these countries don{t get bored, I have no idea.

Near the bank is the ´square´ where I knew to find the taxi drivers, as it is where they sleep. One short, jolly-Santa man waved me down from a block away so I went straight for him.

He had a Previa. I love Previas... aka Bretheran vans. One day when we were in our old one up near the Bretheran school, they all tooted and waved at us - thinking we were one of theres. It felt good to be accepted.

My jolly bus driver told me about how the City used to be a bright, quiet and safe place, but now there is a lot of drugs and therefore thievery... he doesn´t like living here much anymore. I felt bad for him and the good people of the city - such things we don´t really have to worry about. I thought it was a great shame, as it does look like it was once a pretty city. The government is also very corrupt, he told me, even Obama sent a message about how corrupt it was - they really like Obama here, I´ve noticed. Lots of people bear the T-Shirts in the city, I guess it is because the city is mainly a community made up of African Slave ancestory. I think Belize looks up to USA quite a lot too....

Anyways, I went to the bus station - very different to the classy ones of Mexico - everyone stared at me from the moment I walked in to the second I got off the bus. Most of it was outside, but sheltered, with lots of food stalls. Every 2nd person asked where I was trying to be and pointed me the way. A lady came on with hot clove bread and I got some of the. Wish I had got more - it was so fresh, so nice. The ride was very interesting. I took the bus all the way to Corozal, so I must have been on it for a good few hours. There was a back door to the bus, men kept getting out to use the bathroom then quickly running and jumping back on when the driver was yelling to close the door. It was on the highway, but through neighbourhoods. I saw a LOT of Chinese supermarts and restaurants. Even the non-chinese ones, are all named with the person who runs it name. I like this. Most the businesses are ´Andrea´s´ or ´Wong Fu´s´... I like it coz it´s like - ¨I did this, I am gonna make sure everyone knows that it´s mine´.

When I got on the bus, it was 100% (bar me, obviously) black people. When I got off the bus, it was 100% Mayan or Mexican. Some of them ARE Mexican, the bus driver was speaking Spanish, some of them are not - but the boarderline is quite faint up the north there.
I didn´t actually realise this until we stopped in a city - Orange Walk´- up North and the bus driver put on a Mexican music CD. I wondered why he was only busting this out now, when he could{ve put it on hours ago, when women got on the bus to walk the aisle selling Corn and Tamales (the fave Mex snackS) ...I looked around and saw only Mayan or Mexican Belizeans - on the bus, in the street.. Spanish was what people now speaking. It opened to my eyes to Belizean Culture... there is more to it than meets the eye.

IT ws an expensive effort to get back across the boarder, as unfortunately it was now about 10pm and all the buses for the day had stopped. I try to be a budget traveller, but there are good tricks I am learning for the next trip I go on. I had to Taxi there in a van... I was scared for my life for a few minutes there. Not because the van was unsafe, but because my partyman driver was BLARING the music (latest RnB, classic) but driving RIDICULOUSLY fast - but not really paying sticking to his side of the road. At all. This made me particularly queezy when we were going around the various bends on the wrong side .. that with the fact that there were no lights on the road.. it was now black so I had no idea what was ahead of us. Early on I was furiously grabbing for the seatbelt, couldn´t find the bottom bit and he reached over to try and help - meaning taking his eyes off the road and bending right to the ground - I was like ´´It´s okay - you drive, I will look for that.´He was all ´We don´t use seatbelts in Belize´, I was ´Even in this car? DRIVE PLEASE´. I got the buckle eventually, but it had obviously not been used for a while.
I walked through the crossing, with about 20 people all heading to the Casinos in no-mans-land. Once I got out into the middle part, I took photos of myself in front of each country. I got a whistle and looked toward the Belize side. The guy was waving his arm casually at me. I took another photo. ´No!´he yelled, must of thought i was working for some government. He probably thought I would put the photos on some blog, or something. I have found I have looked like a bad-ass on a few occasions here, because their ´´You are not meant to be doing that´´ signals and messages are so weak that I just think they are waving, like this guy. He was leaned back in his chair, one ankle up on the other leg, with his hand behind his head. It looked like a ´See ya, Thanks for coming to Belize, mon.´